Extraordinary Dancers

Here is a cool video that we wanted to share The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers, dancing to the music of Vitamin String Quartet (Yellow):

Posted by Micayla

Ronald Reagan Museum

by Micayla

We went to the Ronald Reagan Museum! We got to go on the real Air Force One plane that he rode on!! We saw a replica of the oval office, and the presidential seal!!

My favorite part was learning about the Berlin Wall...

...It was a wall put up by East Germany, it enclosed the city of West Berlin separating it from the East. When the wall was being built parents would hold up their children (over the wall) for the grandparents on the other side to see them before the wall was complete. The west side was a free side; they were allowed to go near it and paint it (because they knew that no one would want to go to the east side)! But on the east side they were not allowed to go near the wall, there were guards with dogs and barbed wire. People tried to escape to the west side but few made it.

We touched a piece of the West side of the Berlin Wall.

Here is the quote that President Reagan said to help bring the wall down :

"We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate.

Mr. Gorachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorachev, tear down this wall."

It's a fun place to go. You should check it out sometime!

Taking a look at the East German side of the wall (there was no paint or pictures on this side, just a plain wall).

Playing in Pasadena!

Last week we saw the program Ecopolis - Powering the Future at Cal Tech in Pasadena. The show highlighted solar power, wind turbines, nuclear fusion power and carbon recapture and storage. This is the third program we've seen there this year, and so far they've all been terrific! Two more are coming up: Galapagos - Born of Fire and The Human Body.

One of the best things about going to Pasadena for these fantastic shows is we get to pick up Uncle Brad on the way!

And play at his house afterwards. We had fun swinging and climbing on his enormous fig tree.

Playing around with his turntables!

And hanging out on his yoga ropes!

Here is a fun poem Carly wrote for Uncle Brad when she was eight years old!

It's Presidents' Day!

Here is our favorite OBAMA SONG in honor of Presidents' day!!! Enjoy!!!

Trampoline Tip

An Allie idea...

If you have a trampoline and you get tired of bouncing, try this:

Grab a few books,

some blankets,

a bowl of popcorn,

a little brother (or a sister if you don't have a brother),

and bask in the warmth of the afternoon sun!

HeARTs of Love

(by Micayla)

We made paper heart quilts with Grandma Nancy (our friend Maggie's grandma) who is an artist! We painted 6 squares of a piece of watercolor paper in the same color -for the background (when you're done put it aside to dry, you will be putting your hearts onto it later).

Then with another piece of watercolor paper (that has 6 squares drawn with pencil) we painted different abstract art in each individual square. Then with a heart stencil we traced 6 hearts over each painted square and cut them out.

When you're done you can rip the edges of the hearts or cut little slices around it to give it a cool look! Then you can take little double sided sticky pop dots and stick them on the back side of the heart; then press onto a square of the watercolor paper (the one that you did not cut the hearts from); this makes for a 3-D effect. If you want to you can do little sewing dashes around them, and then frame it in a mat (ours were white frames you can get at Michaels).

Many thanks to Grandma Nancy for coming to do this art project with us; we had a great time! (You might like to try it too!)

Kreativity!

This one has been around for awhile; if you haven't already seen it you may find it worth a watch...